EUROPEAN SHIELD WEST GAME 2

Serbia overcame a second half comeback by a spirited German outfit to win the West section of the 2010 European Shield this evening at FC Radnicki Stadium in Belgrade. The Serbians opened the scoring when hookerZoran Pešić crossed for his first in a brace of four pointers. Dalibor Vukanović converted as he commenced a 26-point haul, after collecting 32 points last week against the Czech Republic in Prague.

The ensuing ill discipline of the Serbians gave Germany some fine field position and Max Schoengen found just enough space to beat Kikanović and dive over for a try only four minutes later which silenced the home crowd and asked early questions of the Serbians. A Dalibor Vukanović double and Zoran Pešić’s try just before the break saw Serbia take a 24-4 half time lead but the Germans had other intentions.

The Germans opened the second half with some bright ingenuity when Damien Seibold kicked on the first from a scrum at halfway and Jimmy Keinhorst pounced on the ball to send alarm bells ringing for the Serbians as Kristian Keinhorst converted. Nick Keinhorst put each of the three Keinhorst brothers on the score sheet in bringing the margin to only 10 points when he dived on a Seibold grubber kick next to the posts in the 52^ndminute.

The Germans had their hard running six-foot-six 19-year-old prop Thomas Isaak leading the way for the German youth but it was Stefan Nikolić putting the match beyond doubt with a 50 metre run down the right touchline and it was fitting, in the end, that Dalibor Vukanovićwould score his third try of the game in another man of the match performance. Dalibor Vukanović ran straight through a tiring defence to notch up his hat trick and stamp his name on Serbia’s European Shield West victory.

German coach Danny Stocks was happy with his team’s performance despite the rather inexperienced squad he was able to prepare.

Stocks commented, “Everyone gave 100% and I hope we can build on this performance when we play the Czech Republic in two weeks”

His opposite number, Serbia coach Marko Janković, was satisfied his combatants completed a successful European Shield campaign after the German second half scare.Janković told reporters, “The Germans were very upset at the interval and they decided to go all or nothing in the second period and their two tries really shocked us. They put two scores, then in the middle of the second half we finally broke their defence and our physical preparation following the completion of our domestic championship showed in the end.”

With the final score not a fair reflection on the game that took place, Germany will be keen to steal second place in its group when they host the Czech Republic in Kaiserslautern on July 17.

SERBIA 
Nenad Grbić, Marko Katanić, Aleksandar Sič, Niksa Unkovic, Vladan Kikanović, Milan Šušnjara, Dalibor Vukanović, Dejan Lukenić, Zoran Pešić, Ivan Djordjević, Vuk Tvrdišić, Milos Calic, Soni Radovanović. Subs: Milan Štrbac, Danilo Delić, Lazar Zivkovic, Stefan Nikolić

GERMANY 
Nick Keinhorst, Max Schoengen, Nico Koch, Jimmy Keinhorst, Christoph Huber, Damien Seibold, Kristian Keinhorst, Thomas Isaak, Danny Stocks, Fabrice Fehlman, Christian Gabriel, Bene Rehm, Simon Cooper. Subs: Arthur Schein, Ben Behr-Heyer, Max Froeschner, Liam Doughton